Meet Miss America 2019: Nia Franklin
October 2, 2018
On Sunday, August 9th, the 92nd Miss America pageant took place in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It was broadcast live on ABC. Miss America 2019 was announced as Miss New York, Nia Franklin.
Nia is from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She attended The University of North Carolina School of Arts and majored in music composition. After being accepted to Lincoln Center Education, she moved to Manhattan, New York.
Nia has been receiving some criticism for being crowned Miss New York despite living in the state for only one year. She said she had “New York grit” right before being crowned. Some New Yorkers were not impressed with this comment, considering that she is not really a New York native.
Being an opera singer, Nia Franklin is very passionate about music. During the pageant, she speaks about how music helped her find her identity. She plans to advocate for more arts education funding in public schools during her time as Miss America.
“There is a %20 higher graduation rate at schools that add arts as a main course to their curriculum,” Nia says.
Nia plans on going to D.C. and lobbying with the groups that support art education in order to achieve her goal.
She will be travelling across the country for one year for service, as the other winners of the pageant have done before.
“I grew up at a predominately Caucasian school and there was only five percent minority, and I felt out of place so much because of the color of my skin,” Franklin said. “But growing up, I found my love of arts, and through music that helped me to feel positive about myself and about who I was.”
The Miss America organization, renamed “Miss America 2.0,” has faced a significant downgrade in ratings after they got rid of their swimsuit competition. The amount of viewers on Sunday’s ceremony declined by 19 percent. Viewership downgrades have been a reoccurring trend for the Miss America pageant over the last few years.
Nia Franklin will participate in the Miss Universe pageant which is set to take place on December 16th, 2018.